... Another wheel, tire, alignment thread (20" 214's)
 

After increasing road noise and steering vibrations I was able to be prioritized for drive shaft replacement at the local dealer.

Background - I've had the 2012 X5D for a couple of months and about 6 thousand miles. When I bought it, from a used car dealer specializing in BMWs, the tires were around 6/32 tread and it was somewhat factored into the price. Since the noise has been noticeable (I've been driving a lot for work in the past couple of weeks - 1500 miles) I noticed accelerated tire wear and that I'll need some soon.

While the truck was at the dealer they noted that it does indeed need tires, a front wheel needs to be straightened, and they suspect the alignment is off. The estimate to straighten the wheel, align the truck (without parts), and install 4 new DWS06 tires is $1750. OUCH. $1440 of that is for the tires. They charge $50/corner to mount and balance if I bring my own tires.

In the past I have had great luck with off brand tires from ebay, but they have not been odd sizes and it was easier to find reviews. Does anyone have any recommendations? I am considering these Maxtrek Fortis T5's which would come out to $730 installed at the dealer (maybe cheaper if I can get the used car dealership to do it and absorb labor costs).

Also - if anyone could recommend a good place for the alignment or confirm a good experience at the bmw dealer I would appreciate it. (the only one in mechanicsburg pa)

2 NEW 275/40ZR20 Maxtrek Fortis T5 Tires 275 40 20 2754020 R20 Sport Luxury Suv | eBay

2 NEW 315/35ZR20 Maxtrek Fortis T5 Tires 315 35 20 3153520 R20 Sport Luxury Suv | eBay

Lastly - assuming I go with sport/performance, can anyone recommend a nice winter wheel/tire package or recommendations on wheels to acquire for this purpose. I don't know much about the process of swapping wheels with sensors and such.

The last place I would cheap out on a car is tires.

Dont get cheap chinese ones off ebay, not for the x5 but also dont get the runflats from dealer. Get the DWS06 from an ebay seller and get it mounted locally or even try Dunn tire or similar and have them price match the online price, sometimes they will. Added bonus, if you get tires from them and get it mounted, any future flat repairs will be free.

Mine had a puncture, i went to Dunn and was surprised the previous owner had bought them from Dunn, so i didnt pay anything for a proper patch job.

Long story short, shop around and ask for price match and dont use dealer.

Thanks for the recommendations - unfortunately no Dunn tires near me.

I haven't found too much information on here about the expected life of the DWS06, the dealership told me to expect about 20k under normal driving conditions. Does the 50k warranty apply for a staggered wheel set up?

Has anyone had issues with tire shops damaging wheel sensors or anything? Any reason to go to the dealer?

Pricing them out I still have to factor in that the wheel will need to be straightened during tire replacement.

Depending on how bad your rim is, the challenge will be finding some place that does good rim repair in-house. Most places send them out and have a 2-3 day turnaround.

I dont understand why you are even SPEAKING to a 'dealer'?? WTF?

Any COMPETENT tire store can (1) straighten mildly tweaked wheels; (2) change TPMS; (3) Align the car; (4) mount tires

You are fooling with this off brand thing... shop online NOT AT THE DAELER for recommended tires. DWS, Latitudes, etc. They will give you 40k miles, properly aligned and driven sanely.

ANY tire store should EASILY match tirerack or other online prices. $25-35 per tire to mount and balance.

Alignment: 0.01 to 0.02 toe in on EACH tire. Caster and Camber to mid spec and balanced side to side. Period. THAT is what YOU should demand. Not 'align it to whatever BMW says. BMWs spec is way too large- these numbers are in BMWs spec and will give you good handling AND max life.

I just got a set of 20" DWS 06 from Discount Tires for $241/tire and $279/tire, front and rears, respectively. Installed after tax was a little over $1,200. That's not too much more than those off brand eBay tires you listed.

As for the tire warranty, the manufactures usually half the warranty if you're running a staggered setup.

Edit: Nevermind, just noticed the eBay tires were for a set of 2 each. The pricing just seems too good to be true, especially for an unknown product.

Thank you all for the feedback. I don't believe any local BMW indy shops do alignment so I am currently looking at the major chain in the area (jack williams) who has the best prices on the DWS 06 - it looks like about $1200 installed.

Is there anything specific I should know for the alignment such as the machine used or weights on the seat? Are there any parts that wear for the alignment or would a call that "we need to replace xxx" be scamming?

I was initially leaning towards the dealer for the benefit of customer service/ loaner vehicle but I realized my vehicle came back with grease up the side after the complimentary car wash - so I'm past that idea.

If you want your tires to last, minimal toe and you could reduce the amount of factory negative camber in the rear. If you do a search, a few people have posted their alignment specs to give you something to go off of.

The local shop that I had dropped the truck off at has now changed their position on aligning to the provided specifications.

As I am looking for another shop, most won't do bmws because of the weighted alignments. Are you guys using these specs and having the alignment done weighted - or just using the specs?

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